Naruto & Hinata - The First Kiss
by Nichiren
Summary: This is a remake of my earliest work; Hinata's Wish. The latter was written six years prior to this one, and my English at the time wasn't that good. So here I give you the reworked, overhauled version. I made it as romantic and touching as I possibly could. To every fan of the NaruHina pairing, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Cheers!
1. Hinata's feelings

**Naruto & Hinata – The First Kiss**

_(disclaimer; I do not own the Naruto-universe, the characters or the laws invented for the original series, nor will I ever claim that I do.)_

_A/N: This is basically a remake of my earliest work, called Hinata's Wish. I wrote the original about six years prior to this one, and reading it again recently I found so many things I wanted to change. Seeing I'm Norwegian, my English language at the time was anything but impressive. When I read it, it felt childish, immature, cheesy, weird, and packed with spelling errors. Here I give you the reworked version, and I really declared my fullest attention of making this as romantic and touching as I possibly could, as I'm a big fan of the Naru-Hina pairing... So... I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it._

_Chapter 1 – Hinata's feelings_

Meet Hyuuga Hinata, a very shy girl that went in the same academy class as Uzumaki Naruto, her one and only big crush. She has always been heavily in love with this boy at the same age, always admiring him from the shadows, yet too shy and low on self-esteem to make her first approach...

_Somewhere back in time..._

Hinata was in her bed, it was a cold night outside. It was freezing in the winter cold, and all she could see through the window was the twilight, and a slight shine from the moon.

But falling asleep this particular night was hard...

This day she learned something about Naruto; he was in love with Haruno Sakura. She had always had this suspicion, but she heard some of the other girls in class discussing love and the "ranks" of various boys in class. Everyone knew Naruto liked Sakura, the way he always proclaimed his love to her...

He always tried to get her to a date, and to sit next to her and he always chose her first, when it came to co-operation tasks handed out by the teacher. But he haven't seen Hinata yet... She had hardly had any conversation with Naruto, she felt like a ghost to him.

Knowing the one you love, has their attention on someone else is hard to stomach. She felt that it was impossible now. Not just hard anymore... But she couldn't let him go. It hurt...

Her blanket was cold... She was freezing. Oh, how she wished for him to like her back. How she longed for his love... She tried imagining him laying next to her in that very bed, she tried making a vision in her mind of how warm it would have been... And just by that single thought, she was back in her love-state.

She smiled, although still tear-soaked of her partially broken heart. It helped for just a little bit to think positive, which she always did. She tried comforting herself, thinking that maybe someday, maybe he would come to realize that Sakura was unable to like him back? After all, she liked someone else, too, and felt Naruto was a nuisance.

By closing her eyes, she entered a world of eternal hope... She imagined herself on a field of grass, standing there with Naruto alone, no-one nearby. There, she declared her love and confessed her feelings. And of course, he would become happy and throw his arms around her.

She smiled through the shivering, and slowly drifted into deeper dreams...

_Some time later..._

Hinata's pulse was raging... She wrote a letter to Naruto, for the first time. In the name of her sister; Ikurata, she told Naruto about Hinata's being in love with him. She didn't write it too long or too complex, she just informed him of her likings, and would slip it to his mailbox later on.

Sadly, she would never see Naruto react in any way during the classes...

As if he never read the letters, or never cared about her emotions...

She felt like her emotions were bleeding! However, if there was just a single, teeny tiny hope in the future, she would not give up yet. Not until Naruto himself explained to her that it could never be anything going on between them. Then, and only then would she do her best to let him go...


	2. Broken glass

_Chapter 2 – Broken glass_

_Back to present..._

One day when Naruto woke up, he was a little more sleepy than usual. The tired boy named Uzumaki seemed to have a little difficulty leaving the bed.

He bent forward, half-way sitting up by supporting his upper body on his arms. He forced his eyes open, taking his time to initiate his brain's start-up sequence.

By looking around he found that his room was messy, to put it blunt... Canisters and various means of trash all over the floor... Garbage on the table, broken legs from chairs, a pillow ripped apart, books torn to shreds... He tried to remember; how did this happen?!

There's nothing like waking up to a horrendous sight to behold, having a billion things to do before the day even starts. Maybe he was lucky to wake up early so that he would have time to do it... All this mess because he fell asleep last night to some boring TV show, and accidentally created a Rasengan while still being unconscious...

He thought it was just a dream, but that's how wrong he could be.

It was easy seeing where he planted his favourite sphere: right there on that hole in the floor. He got up, and dragged his feet and lazy body over to the hole, staring down into the void... And man it was deep!

Naruto stared for a minute before finally laughing at it, taking it easy by thinking of how powerful he had gotten lately. This was yet another confirmation of his ever-growing strength, right?

He forced himself over to the fridge, fetching himself a glass of milk. He chugged it down. It was one of his days off, so he could allow himself to be laidback. Especially considering his insane training the day before when he tried making two Rasengans at the same time – one in each hand! Dual-wielding spheres of death.

He snapped out of his Kage-covered dreamworld... On the table he saw Shikamaru's forehead protector he left behind on his last visit to his friend with the whiskers. Some smart-ass, yeah, forgetting his village emblem. Well, if he needed it he surely would drop by and get it back.

_Later, same day..._

Naruto took a walk to visit Shikamaru, of the Nara clan. He knocked, and the door opened by itself by mysterious means... Naruto had his confused facial expression as he looked inside seeing Shikamaru sitting on the couch eating bread and cheese with his left hand, while his right hand was holding on to a seal. A familiar seal, indeed.

But Naruto looked rather confused, still...

"W-what... How did you... ", he stuttered. Shikamaru smiled somewhat proudly, and told Naruto he has gotten better with his techniques, and explained what he did. Not only did he create a Shadow Imitation with one hand, but also opened the door with it.

"That's just weird... ", Naruto said, and scratched the back of his head like he always do when he's confused.

Naruto joined Shikamaru on the couch. The Shadow-wielder asked Naruto how his training was going...

"Heheheee, I'm getting hella strong, I tell you! ", Naruto said with his confident grin, "I just recently learned to create Rasengan without Shadow Replications to help me out, but currently I'm struggling creating one in each hand, it's so straining..."

The Nara smiled, surprised and proud of the dumb kid Naruto developing himself like that. All on his own.

He finished his meal and walked into the living room to get a board of chess so that they could play. Naruto liked the game, even though he always lost to Shikamaru no matter how hard he tried.

Naruto: So how's it gonna be with you and Temari, huh?

Shikamaru: WHA- uhm, umm... Hey, that's sudden, where did that question come from?

Naruto: Just curious! You love each other, don't you? Heehee...

Shikamaru: Well, um... I... Well, I do find girls to be quite troublesome at times, so... I dunno... You know, I like watching the clouds by myself, and I'm not sure if I... eh...

Naruto: Geez man, you always say that!

Shikamaru: Say what?

Naruto: That word! The troublesome-word! Always!

Shikamaru: But it's true! But hey, speaking of girls... You know that there's one that has a big crush on you, right?

Naruto: What, WHAT?! SAKURA LOVES ME?!

Shikamaru: No, dumb-ass! It is Hinata!

Naruto: What, the shy girl? Nah, I won't believe that. I love Sakura, you trying to make me forget about Sakura-chan, don't you? What's this, you love her too or something? Don't belittle me, I'll become Hokage and marry Sakura-chan and have four kids with her, so don't you dare-...

Shikamaru: Sheeeesh... Never mind... And no, I don't like that uptight, over-confident, troublesome Sasuke-freak...

Naruto: Don't talk to her like that! March over to her house right now and apologize!

Shikamaru: Hahah... That's funny!

After a short while, someone knocked on the door. Shikamaru went to open it, and he found Chouji outside, recruiting Shika to a mission.

"How troublesome... ", he said, and walked outside followed by Naruto. "Can't be helped. Well, see you later buddy!". Naruto waved good-bye to the lads, and checked his frog-like wallet, considering some ramen.

Later that day, Naruto walked through Konoha market, spotting Hinata and approaching her from behind. Naruto snuck up on her, and suddenly grabbed her shoulders hard from behind combined with a loud "BOO!". Hinata, screamed out, and Naruto started laughing victoriously.

She recognized his voice. The poor shy girl turned around and faced him. Shy as she was she didn't have the courage or confidence to look him in the eyes... She mumbled a low "N-Naruto-kun..." and smiled a little.

"H-hi!"

Although she liked it all right, she was still embarrassed. This everyday joke anyone could do with their friends, was such a big deal to her... She was easy to scare, too, seeing she often took those long walks at nighttime... It made her a bit tired at daytime, and easier to scare as well.

Naruto still hadn't figured that she was having the mother of all crushes on him...

In her eyes, he was a hero. An honest, cool man, a Yang of her Yin, her missing piece of heart.

He noticed she was uncomfortable with the situation, and so he apologized for scaring her. With honest concern for her well-being, he grabbed her shoulders again, and established eye-contact while asking if she was allright.

Poor Hinata started to blush real hard right away, a red colour covered her face.

... She fainted!

From the sidewalk Kiba approached the scene; "Now again? She always passes out when you're nearby Naruto, you bring bad luck! Geez..."

Naruto mumbled something and started walking back home, forgetting about the event. He even forgot about the ramen.

It was like this, awkward and stalled at the same level, that friendship between Naruto and Hinata. As much as she wanted to progress it to another level, she just couldn't...

Naruto came home to relax a bit, laying down on his bed watching TV as the night came across. Lazy as he was that day, he created a Shadow Replication to turn on the TV for him, and another one to go to get his chocolate bars. He laughed for himself, enjoying the candy and life's good sides on the lazy front. Maybe heavily inspired by Shikamaru, Konoha's Lead Lazy Shinobi.

One of his clones accidentally hit Shikamaru's forehead protector while passing by the table, so that it fell down on the floor. It was no wonder if Naruto should slip on it later...

Later on, Naruto got tired, and crawled up from the bed. He noticed his picture of Sakura on his desk. He stared at it intensely, and the inscription he made on it some years ago. Naruto took a deep sigh, looking somewhat sad...

Realizing he had finally given up on her, he picked up the picture and actually **threw it out the window**. It hit a big stone – the glass shattered. The picture got broken. Little did he care, he was tired of becoming heartbroken by the countless times Sakura had been hitting his head every time he screwed up. As if she was his mother.

She was cruel, and Naruto was sick of it. He tucked himself into his blanket to get a good night's sleep.

Meanwhile, Hinata was on her usual nightwalk, constantly focusing on what she can do to approach Naruto, even though after several years of failure she still couldn't find the courage to make it.

She heard the sound of breaking glass nearby Naruto's place, and she went by carefully, afraid of being noticed. She didn't want to give the impression of stalking him, that could for sure ruin the little friendship they had, she thought... It seemed to be normal: when one was in love with somebody, the last thing they wanted was to risk it. They could very well end up ruining it all, never to have a new chance again. It was so important to her not to do anything wrong in her approach, because she really couldn't imagine liking anyone else as much as she liked Naruto...

Now, on the ground some meters away from his window she found the broken picture... She saw Sakura's face in it along with the broken glass. She knew Naruto loved her. She picked up the frame and read his inscription. It said "Sakura-chan, my future love" with several hearts attached to it...


	3. Visiting the hero

_Chapter 3 – Visiting the Hero_

Hinata kept the picture to try to sort out the meaning of her discovery and continued her walk while, as she always did, whispering good night to Naruto. While doing so, she always faced Naruto's bedroom window, quietly wishing him all comfort and well-being he could possibly get.

Poor Hinata always seemed so depressed and down; it was always so hard to reach Naruto the way she wanted. Besides, he was bad at reading a girl's heart. Or maybe he just didn't like her back? That was her worst fear in life...

The next day Naruto woke up, exploding with energy. He did some morning stretching exercises, shaking every muscle in the good feeling of a long night's sleep. He felt his limbs vibrate, and boy did it feel nice! He smiled. He created a clone and sent it to his mailbox outside to check his mail while he walked to the kitchen to make himself some breakfast. Multi-tasking!

His Replication checked his mailbox and it only contained a single letter. It said it was from Hyuuga Ikurata, Hinata's little sister. The clone didn't open it, as Naruto didn't like her that much. He moved it to another box full of sealed letters containing spam. He had gotten mail from Ikurata months prior as well, but he didn't open that either.

The reason why was that he had gotten letters of written hate earlier in his life, so unless he was awaiting something important he rarely read anything. He was too hurt from his past...

The Replication saw Hinata approaching, and dispelled itself so that Naruto would get the message by the memory transfer the technique brought along with it.

Hinata walked by to give Naruto his broken picture back (and to maybe figure out why he threw it away) (and also to have a reason to see him of course).

Hinata approached his door, and starts to blush outside. She's thinking of whether she should knock hard or light,

repeatedly or a single knock, and so on, hesitating as always... Since Naruto knew she was there he opened up the door, with his bedclothes on.

Naruto: Hello, Hinata! Good morning!

Naruto's hair was spiky, messed up from sleeping a long night. Still he looked energetic. Naruto smiled and stretched his arms behind his head like he always did, while apologizing for the other day when he scared her.

Hinata: N-Naruto-kun... Umm... G-good morning...

Hinata tried to say something more when Naruto cut her off, inviting her in. "M-maybe I should... Go... Back... N-Naruto-k-kun.. I think y-you just... woke... up..."

Naruto grabbed her arm impolitely as always and led her inside.

"NONSENSE! I'm perfectly awake and I love getting a visit from one of my good friends, Hinata! By the way, you don't have to be so shy all the time, you know!", Naruto said with a happy chuckle.

Hinata AGAIN started to blush, and folded her hands together. She was nervous.

Naruto dropped his body on the couch like a sack of rocks, and Hinata sat down on the chair that was next to the couch. She didn't dare to sit next to him of course...

The yellow-haired boy turned on the TV while a new clone went to get the breakfast for him. Hinata wanted to move over to the couch next to her love of life, so she forced all of her might and moved her body with sheer force at Kage-levels!

All of her limbs started shaking, because she was so shy. But she HAD to get closer to her favourite boy... But her destructive thinking fought her back, and she started thinking of what she would do if he asked why she moved over to the couch, amongst other things.

She stalled. She was trembling in fear...

She sat down again. Somehow, a note flicked it's way out of her Hyuuga jacket pocket... It fell on the floor, and none of them had noticed it yet.

But she didn't succeed, she decided to remain on the chair, not taking any more chances. She decided to just be glad to be in his apartment for the time being, because that wasn't often...

Hinata looked on the TV to see what was taking Naruto's attention away from her, and she saw a comedy show. Something a bit childish, but she understood Naruto's sense of humour. It was some sort of cartoon, and something funny happened on the screen that made Naruto burst in laughter. Hinata suddenly lost her control, and chuckled loudly along with him.

Naruto noticed, and raised his eyebrows with a great smile while looking at Hinata. She instantly slapped her own mouth, covering it. All blushy, she realized he just heard her chuckle. She became embarrassed of herself...

Naruto: Haha, you have a cute laughter, Hinata! You should laugh more often, I like it!

Hinata: O-oh...he... umm... I-I... He...

Naruto: Why do you sit on that chair by the way, it's torture to sit on! Come over here, the couch is amazing! There's room for at least two people here!

Hinata: B-but, N-Naruto-kun...

His attention went back to the TV... Hinata looked at the free spot next to Naruto, but of all things she started staring at the pillow, mad because it was "in the way"... In order for her to move over to the couch, she would have to move the pillow first, and that alone made her feel intrusive in a sense... And that was the last thing she wanted to be... But at the same time, he DID say so, and this made her stuck again...

Suddenly, Naruto hurled the pillow away over the table, slapping the free spot.

Naruto: GET OVER HERE!, he said, yelling with a happy tune.

Nervous as ever, she very, very, very carefully sat down next to him... She made sure not to have her body touch his, so that she could enjoy sitting that close. Her heart was beating rapidly... She even had a tunnel-vision. She wasn't far from passing out, but she was still fine.

And then it hit her: the chuckle! Was that Hinata's first time laughing freely with Naruto? She thought it over, and simply assumed that something about Naruto made her relax... He really WAS the one she needed in her life to become the happiest person...

Getting his breakfast served, Naruto got once again depressed as his clone still haven't mastered how to create a perfect ramen like Ichiraku's. Of course, the real Naruto was the one to blame, but that didn't matter.

Naruto was quite the gentleman, and served a bawl to Hinata aswell, but she declined it. Naruto asks her if she has had her breakfast yet. She stutters a low "y...yes.." but her stomach rumbles, making quite the ruckus. Her face gets red like a tomato upon that realization!

Naruto chuckles, and he insists she takes it so that he don't feel rude being the only one eating. Quietly, she accepted it, and they start to eat together.

That ramen was maybe far from perfect, but it was the first time Hinata had a taste on Naruto's food. And the crush she had on him gave the taste a real booster... She LOVED IT! It was one of the best things she had ever tasted... She savoured it, eating slowly...

Now, as if Hinata haven't been pushed enough already... Naruto switched channel, and found a film that was airing. A romance-comedy. Both Naruto and Hinata stayed silent, watching the movie while eating up. Then the film came across a somehow embarrassing scene for Hinata's part, as the characters started to make out. It was the height, the climax of the movie.

Inside Hinata's mind: _HOW TYPICAL! I'M GONNA DIE!_

Naruto stayed calm, but Hinata started shaking, getting all those images in her head... All those wishes she had of she and Naruto making out, and now she was looking at a movie with her hero, where the main characters were making out. And she was sitting side by side with Naruto watching that very movie...

Oh, how she wanted what they had in that movie... She sloooooooooooowly turned her head aside to look at Naruto without him realizing it. She wanted to imagine them doing the same, making out, kissing real passionate... Hinata smiled of the thought and got red. (again)

She kept on staring, and her smile faded when she looked at Naruto's lips.

She would go so far, so incredibly far to have her own lips make contact with his, to feel his beautiful lips gently pushed into her own lips... She started staring more and more intensely at Naruto's mouth, to help her mind re-create the scene in the movie, but in her head the movie featured them two, of course...

Until Naruto notices her stare. He turned his head at her, staring back...

Her eyes swapped up to his blue, penetrating eyes, and realized that shit had just hit the fan... "What now?!"


	4. Necess filler

Chapter 4 – Necess filler

Hinata and Naruto is now staring. As if it was a contest, but his eyes were overpowering hers... Her innocent white apologetic eyes versus his blue, lively eyes... Naruto asked her if something was wrong, and she froze up completely!

Naruto was heavily confused. Then she finally overcame her frozen state and figured how she could both change subject and at the same time, clarify something that had been bothering her... So she finally broke the eye-contact and laid a picture on the table between them. The very picture he threw out his window the day prior...

She started to say something, really slowly and stuttery... "um... ... ... You.. You l-lost .. .. this p-picture l-last night... A-and... ... um... ... um... I w-wonder.. .. ..if.. ... ...if... .. you..are.. i-in... ...uh ... in... .. i-in... ..."...

This time Naruto started to blush, but with sad eyes...

He lowered his head and focal point, finally saying something with a low voice: "You... you think I... Love Sakura, don't you...?"

They both stayed silent for a long moment, not really knowing what to say. Hinata wanted to start crying, as she has never felt this heart-shattered before... She kinda always knew, but never wanted to realize. And it was the last thing she wanted to do with her crush: discussing a different girl...

SHE wanted to be in focus! Not that damned Sakura, she thought... She had to hold back her tears, but one escaped. She bent her head further downwards to try to hide her sadness.

Then, all of a sudden as if a bomb detonated, Naruto jumped up from the couch, super-charged with energy like a shizu with a big smile on his face! He snapped up the picture and told Hinata he wanted to show her how much he

loved Sakura these days.

He pulled Hinata all the way to a nearby field where Lee used to go to work out, and Hinata followed suit, and she didn't know if she wanted to see if he liked Sakura. If he loved Sakura, then she really didn't want to have that confirmation... It would hurt.

Maybe he was going to reveal more secret relics dedicated to his secret love-target? Other than the inscribed picture?

Or maybe they were already in a relationship? Hinata didn't want to follow, but Naruto grabbed her hand, laughing for himself. They got to the grassy field..

"Now I'll show you how much I love Sakura! You won't believe how deeply I want her to marry me! ... Kage-bunshin no jutsu!".

Two shadow clones appeared from Chakra clouds. One held the picture on a straight arm forward, and Naruto and

the other clone walked to opposite distances. Then Naruto and the Replication yelled out:

"RASENGAN!" and started to run towards each other, targeting the picture of Sakura in between them. They plunged towards the picture, and smashed both Rasengans at it, hitting it at both sides simultaneously, effectively shredding the picture to a thousand fragments.

An explosion followed, partly ripping the field apart. Naruto was hurled into the air by the force while laughing, and landed hard on his back.

Hinata chuckled once, but snapped out of it by concern for his well-being. She ran towards him and fell to her knees by his side, asking him if he was allright. Naruto responded he wanted to do that for a long time, still smiling...

(Or maybe Naruto just wanted to show-off his Duplicate version of Rasengan? Show-off!)

Then someone cleared his throat...

"Excuse me!", Maito Gai said, and appeared on the half-destroyed field.

"What have you done to the Valley of the Green Beast!?" He started crying, mumbling about Lee's training and

something about youth. He covered his face to hide his streaming tears, weird as it was, and Naruto used that opportunity to sneak away from the scene, pulling Hinata with him.

Sitting in the grass further away behind a tree, Naruto sees Hinata's left eye just let a tear slid.

Naruto: Hinata... Are you crying...?

She just smiled, and looked happy. She said she just got something stuck in her eye. Naruto bought it. While smiling, he responded that he knew that feeling. "It's annoying isn't it". Dumb-ass.

Later that day, they left each other.

Hinata headed back home, and once she turned the corner, she jumped up into the air screaming in joy. Not only did she hang out with Naruto, but she confirmed he didn't like Sakura anymore, AND he made her food! She was so happy, completely sure that this was the best day of her life!

Meanwhile, Naruto was also heading home but bumped into Sasuke.

"Evening, moron.", Sasuke said while looking away. "Why you..." Naruto said, building up his anger, but got disrupted by Sakura, creating some distance between them. "C'mon Sasuke, let's go on a date! Leave Naruto, let's have some privacy, just you and me..." Sakura said.

Naruto smiled, and felt glad to not being that keen on her mean, hexed, violent, messed-up personality anymore. This was one of his first times not being jealous.

He just chuckled at them, without saying anything. He went away from them, and took a walk to his usual training spot, to once again train a bit stronger. After all, he DID want to surpass Sasuke and become the future Hokage! It was an open field pretty similar to Lee's favourite training spot.

Naruto made the Kage Bunshin seal with both hands as usual, and tried to remember the feeling, then he removed one hand, still holding the feel of it, with Chakra molded. He concentrated real hard, and executed the technique, disappointing himself by creating a broken Naruto-copy laying on the ground completely helpless. And useless.

It then exploded by itself, all out of nowhere!

But yes, Naruto was approaching his own brand new technique. He wanted so badly to master the trick. And he wanted even more to develop his own technique from scratch, even though this was not really a "new" technique... What if he could use the Mass version of it, with both hands forming a seal each, maybe he could double the numbers or something? Naruto wanted to find out, but he needed more training. He trained for several hours straight that day, and finally took a break when the evening came by again.

Out of breath, he walked home a bit later than usual, spotting someone behind a tree outside his house. He ignored it, he has seen a hiding person there other times as well. He walked inside, locked the door, and went straight to bed, calling it quits for the day.


	5. Pure magic

_Chapter 5 – Pure magic_

The next day when the sun rose up, Naruto got up too. This was going to become a nice day... He ate his breakfast and ran straight to his training spot! He formed the Kage Bunshin seal and removed his left hand, and tried to execute it faster while still holding his mental picture. He tried for not less than half an hour before he made a perfect copy. Naruto felt so relieved! FINALLY!

He laid down on the beautiful green grass viewing the sun and relaxed for a moment, smiling as ever. Staring at the clouds, like Shikamaru liked to do!

Two hours later, Naruto had about halfened his Chakrapool by perfecting and repeating the technique over and over. This opened up many possibilities! Naruto have searched for so long trying to reach this point. He currently felt that he could become a hundred times stronger, and the little boy loved it. If he continued like this, why should he not become a Hokage?

Naruto went home to fetch some dinner. A stuffed stomach later, he decided to go outside for a walk. He ran to the door real fast, ripped it open, and by the randomness of the Gods he ran straight into Hinata outside. Of all people!

She was there, struggling with what to say before knocking on his door.

But she didn't account for his energy...

Still having a lot of movement-speed, Naruto crashed into her. She fell backwards and landed on her back. Naruto came flying on a collision course, but managed to prevent him crushing her: he landed in a push-up position over the shyness.

A heroic act, avoiding knocking Hinata unconscious with his forehead.

An embarrassing moment occurred... Well, for Hinata's part, that is!

As for now, they were staring at each other, with about a two inch distance between their faces. A two-inch distance away from a kiss...

That thought made Hinata pass out, in an instant! Naruto thought he scared her so much she passed out, so he picked her up and carried her inside his apartment. He laid her down on his bed, finding that the bed would be more comfy than the couch.

While waiting for her to wake up, he took a trip to the store to shop some things missing in his fridge. He wanted to get to know Hinata better, and so he bought some candy for her. It would work as a way to apologize for his clumsyness, he thought.

He figured, maybe they could hang out again, watch a movie or something. After all, Naruto thought he knocked her

out, so relaxing must be the best medicine next to an apology! Buying resources like bread, milk, meat, cheese, noodles and soda, he made a clone with one hand to carry it for him as he walked

home. The lazy orange dude.

On his way home, some random guy nicked his wallet, stealing it! Neji was nearby watching it. Naruto reacted quickly, and made a shadow clone to chase him!

Naruto was fast – the clone gripped the man by the collar. The real Naruto approached like a badass, smiling while taking back the wallet with his left hand, and making another clone with his right, to guard the wallet.

Naruto made a Rasengan and thrusted it into the guy's temple. He was sent sailing!

Naruto didn't worry one second about his landing. Neji just smiled before walking away, deactivating his Buyakugan. Yup, Naruto's every day normal life was filled with unexpected things. One had to be always prepared.

Naruto came home with his three cloned guardians, and they placed the stuff in fridge and shelves in the kitchen before they vanished upon their fulfilled purpose of creation. Hinata was still laying there, looking lifeless.

Naruto looked at her, with a stupid grin, confused again, rubbing the back of his head while thinking of what he should do. (lol, funny pictures in my head)

Naruto brought some pillows and a large blanket to the bed where Hinata was resting, along with the candy. Naruto looked into the fridge to find something to drink for them both. He chose the soda. He figured happiness and sugar and good company was good medicine when one was feeling pain, which he thought Hinata felt.

That's when he noticed the note on the floor Hinata lost the day before...

"What's that? Doesn't look familiar..."

Hinata woke up slowly, and didn't have any pain at all of course. Being confused about her whereabouts, she looked

around herself and at Naruto and the situation, and remained quiet. Naruto picked up the note. Hinata noticed Naruto found it, and she remembered what was on the note, and she panicked! She jumped out from the bed and ran towards Naruto, whom just opened the note, and she snapped it back, fast as lightning leaving Naruto shocked.

Then she calmed down, covered with her usual red colors, looking down on the floor. Naruto understood. It must've been something kept in privacy so he chose to not ask what was on it. "You feeling better Hinata?"

Naruto asked with sorry eyes. Hinata smiled a low positive response before Naruto grabbed her hand.


	6. Lovedrunk

_Chapter 6 - Lovedrunk_

Naruto: I'm sorry I ran into you like that, Hinata... I was wondering... Maybe, if you got time, maybe you wanna watch a movie with me?

She came across the thought of this being Naruto asking her straight out if she wanted to stay for something that equalled a date, and of course she started to blush like crazy. Naruto could almost read the future, and repeated the

question as he knew she was going to blush again and take her time to respond.

She started to stutter that she didn't want to be a bother, before Naruto disrupted her, insisting of making it good again for the accident earlier.

Naruto led Hinata back to his bed and placed the pillows comfortably, and swung a blanket sideways, covering both of them. He pushed the button on the remote, starting a movie he prepared in advance and made himself comfortable next to Hinata in the bed. He passed her a glass of soda.

Grateful, she accepted with a beautiful, gorgeous smile, with cute kind eyes staring at Naruto's blue pair.

Hinata: Thank you, Naruto-kun.

Naruto smiled back at her, feeling super-comfy with the situation. Hinata thought to herself while clenching her fists real tight...:

_Whoa...! My heart is still beating fast, but I managed to thank him without any stutter... Good, good... Hihiiiii, a date with Naruto-kun, a date with Naruto-kun... I'm so glad! I wanna screeeeaaaam! VICTORYYY!_

Basically, that evening Hinata and Naruto was laying side by side in the bed, close to each other. Hinata has never been this close to Naruto before. It felt like a magical spell...

It felt like her body was melting... She felt so warm... Her heart was racing, she couldn't concentrate about the movie, she was too busy enjoying the crazy feelings that radiated all over her...

She was in heaven...

The bed was soft, the blanket was comfy, Naruto was close enough for her to feel his heat, they had candy and soda, they were watching a movie together... She would be happy for half of it...

She was grateful to God for not passing out... This blew everything away! Completely!

Birthday-parties could suck it – THIS was the best!

After a while, she realized it was her chance... This was it.

She was going to do it!

She concentrated... Opened her mouth... Constructed the words mentally...

She closed her eyes! Moved her tongue into position! And then she pushed out the words she has waited for so long to say...

...

But what is this, no sound came out? "Am I THAT shy?", Hinata thought...

Naruto refilled their glasses, and passed another one to Hinata. He asked if her pain had gone away after the collision back there. She responded that she was perfectly fine, feeling better than ever...

Naruto didn't understand what she meant.

So far she had used Naruto's belief in her pain as an excuse for getting into this situation. But now she knew it wasn't hard hanging out with him, she just never took the step further. But how far could she get? Still she haven't gotten a single sign or hint that Naruto liked her back... He was still being kind on the friendly level.

But she was pleased so far, and their progress had been racing lately!

Hinata loved it.

Right now, she was so happy, just to be there. Even though she still wanted to make something more out of the situation. But happiness had this tendency to work like drugs...

Politely, she asked Naruto if it was okay that she turned off the lights, explaining she liked watching movies in the dark...

Hinata: N-Naruto-kun, may I... T-turn off t-the l-l-light?... I umm... I... Ehh, sorry, I don't...

Naruto: ... Of course! I know what you mean, I like that too! Darkness makes the movie a lot more intense!

She smiled with her head lowered and turned off the light, and bent back to the relaxing position, whole body stretched out, side by side with her hero...

She slid back into the blanket, and moved her body a teeeeeeny tiny bit closer to Naruto before she realized it: She was gradually losing her shy-ness! ...GOD BLESS!

Hinata: _My confidence is growing... My courage is building up... My self-esteem is improving... What's this magic?_

She felt like super-woman...

There's no way she would move closer to Naruto under normal circumstances. She had improved a lot! Hinata thought about it for a couple of seconds. Then, accidentally, she burped. The double-edged sword of the flavoured carbonated liquid.

Naruto heard that, and turned his head laughing at her.

This time, she became super-embarrassed again, covering her face entirely with her hands. With her face still buried in her hands, she laughed of herself.

Naruto chugged some more chocolate, quickly forgetting about it. He didn't care, he was glad for having good company. Good friends is, after all, what this boy had always wanted. Especially considering his past when he was a lot by himself...

Suddenly, Hinata apologized to Naruto for the letters...

Hinata: I-I... I don't w-want you t-to think b-badly of me, Naruto-k-kun... B-but... Y-you know...

Naruto: Huh? What letters?

As if lightning struck, Naruto had a glimpse of intelligence in his brain... The only letters she could possibly mean, was the ones from Ikurata...

_What letters... Hey, the only letters she could possibly mean, is the ones from Ikurata, her sister or something... Or...? Is she really thinking about those...? But I haven't read any of them... I don't know what they say... Hey, if I pretend I know what she's talking about, I may figure it out right away!_

Naruto: Oh those! No, why should I think badly of you?

Hinata: R-really...? I mean... You're n-not angry, are y-you...? Naruto-k-kun...?

The orange boy got more confused, and sipped to his soda, responding, "Yeah, I did! What? Noooonono, I'm as happy as can be!", he said, and smiled with the Nice Guy pose.

Hinata looked serious and sad in a weird mix... She tried to figure out what Naruto meant, as she didn't get a clear answer...

_... I somehow... Don't think he read them... Why not...? Maybe it has something to do with his past... I know that much about him, that people once sent hateful letters to him, so maybe he avoided reading them all together...? All I wrote was, in the name of my sister, hints that I liked him... In a way that it didn't come from me, to see if it changed his interest in me, but... But I don't think he read them..._

Why would he respond like that if he have read them? Anyway, she concluded that there could actually be a slight chance that Naruto liked her back, even for just a little bit...

... And that was all she could wish for...


	7. How to go on

_Chapter 7 – How to go on_

Hinata loved the feeling. Her world was spinning... She felt more and more safe with Naruto's company, and she was becoming more and more brave...

She moved a little to get her body closer to Naruto. She did it slowly, to prevent Naruto from noticing it so easily...

She didn't want it to be obvious, or it would get awkward. After all, she didn't know that part of Naruto yet... But her body was directly next to Naruto's now. She succeeded. If Naruto flexed a muscle now, she would feel it. That's how close they were...

She was lovedrunk. Her heart had been beating fast all day long, but constantly in a good way she didn't mind... Love sure was a weird thing.

Every time Naruto moved his arm to feed himself some candy, his arm bumped into her. And each time that happened, it tickled in her body, all the way to her toes. The excitement, the tension...

Her eyes looked drunk... She had been experiencing these super-intense feelings for hours now, which only felt like a mere fifteen minutes in her head... It was a small part exhausting, and a huuuuuge part intoxicating...

She even found the courage to lower her head to rest on Naruto's shoulder... Naruto was on his way eating more chocolate, and as he was raising his arm with a chocolate bar, Hinata's head touched his shoulder. The moment that connection was established, Naruto froze.

From that position, Hinata couldn't see his facial expression... But she did look at his arm, that still held the chocolate. His arm had stopped in midair, and remained there for a few moments.

Then his arm slowly moved again, completing it's duty...

Every movement Naruto did henceforth, was done very slowly and carefully. He didn't say anything, he just became very quiet...

Hinata suddenly felt like she did a mistake... Was it too early for her to rest her head on his shoulder like that? Was Naruto uncomfortable now?

Naruto had never been in this situation before.. Hinata's hair had a nice smell to it. Naruto thought about the reasons why she was so nice to him all the time.

All he ever could think of was that she was in love with him, but he could not believe it. No-one has ever liked him... He wanted to test her, and he got ready to quickly guard himself if it went wrong.

He knew, by experience from Sakura, that if he did this, he could get a smack to his face! But something told him it was safe... And having a lot more courage than Hinata, he carefully tilted his head to support it against hers... He was ready to receive a punch to his head, but...

Alas, nothing happened...

Hinata was holding her breath!

She felt Naruto's warmth... He did it back! He returned it.

She could not breathe!

It took a lot of time before she could inhale oxygen again, and when she did, she struggled to hide that she was breathing hard... She forced herself to breathe slowly when her body was really lacking oxygen, and longed for her to breathe quickly to re-establish oxygen-balance in her system.

She pulled it off!

Still not paying any attention to the movie, she thought it was time to confirm it. Especially since she had come this far... Could she go all the way?

She took out the note from earlier, the one she dropped and snapped back.

Her hand was shaking as she extended it... The paper was shivering as she held the note in front of Naruto so that he could see it...

And THEN...

... ... ... Complete silence... ... ... ...

Naruto froze completely. The poor guy didn't know what to say. Hinata was staring at him, waiting like a happy little child waiting for christmas presents, still she felt this fear of scaring him away... But she felt like the time was ripe. She wanted to open Pandora's Box.

The boy with the whisker marks was looking on something he thought he would never get to see, and it blew away his wildest dreams... The paper had a picture of him, with notes, marks, icons, drawings, drafts, poems, positive words, detailed information, comments... It was like reading a diary.

Naruto finally got to know it. Hinata was so deeply in love with him... Completely lost, hypnotized by him...

How could he know! It was hard to comprehend...

All those years... He's just grown enough to leave Sakura behind and move on. Now he got a clue about Ikurata's letters too, even for just a little. He didn't know the containment, but the naming told him no-one should know Hinata sent them, nor open them, revealing secret information. Maybe they all wore questions related to this topic? Naruto caught back his own sanity, slightly smiling.

His eyes became wet...

A hundred thousand thoughts hazed through Naruto's mind. Regarding the situation, he tried to imagine a relationship with her. He was not in love with her in the same way, but somehow it all made sense. They simply fit together. He never felt that love in first sight, like she did for him...

But he felt different about her now, feelings so deep he hardly could understand them... Even for Sakura, he never had feelings this strong... He deeply scanned everything he knew and felt about Hinata, and compared it to Sakura.

Hinata blushed in happiness by the mere sight of him, while Sakura smacked him in declinement. Hinata

was cute. Sakura was cute too. But Hinata was in love with Naruto, while Sakura seemed to hate him. Hinata was kind, Sakura was mean.

Hinata has always been there for him. Sakura has been there if it was her duty on a mission. Hinata always looked at him, Sakura always ignored him. Hinata wanted to do stuff and become friends with him, even though he never seemed interested. When he was interested in Sakura, he got punched in the face.

Hinata disrupted his train of thought: "Naruto-kun!"

He snapped out of it... "Oh, sorry...", he said.

He moved his eyes to look at her. Eyecontact, oh the magical eye-contact...

They both looked at each other for a moment while talking with their eyes' movements... Both of their smiles faded, slowly... Although feeling crazy feelings deep inside their hearts, they still looked kind of sad in their eyes. Even though they weren't. They kept on looking on each other, none of them thinking if they should say anything...

For now, they just hypnotized each other by mere looking...

KNOCK KNOCK! For the first time, Naruto HATED that sound! Someone knocked on his door.

"It is probably my parents bothering me again... They're overprotective!", Hinata said, and walked to the door. She

opened up to see Shikamaru outside. "H-Hinata?", he said.

_"Something troublesome is going on here..."_, he thought, and it didn't take him long to figure out the possibility of a situation. Also, he spotted Naruto in the room which confirmed it, so he made up an excuse and left to come

back another day to get back his forehead protector. What Hinata didn't know was that he stayed watching the windows for a moment before leaving. That curious fella.

Even that smart-ass didn't understand much of love.

Hinata closed the door, and walked back to the bed where Naruto laid waiting for her. It had become dark outside. It was nighttime. Time went too fast... All of a sudden she tripped on a forehead protector on the floor. She collected herself, getting back up standing.

When she got back to the bed, Naruto had fallen asleep. Hinata knew, he must have been training hard again. She knew he always did. He always strived to become the best. She was glad anyway, happy for another best day of her life.

She refused to leave, however.. She decided to lay down in his bed next to him, and look at him until she fell asleep herself. No way she would leave him now! That was out of the question!

The little Shikamaru saw through the glass was enough. He was happy for both of them, smiling to himself as he figured he shouldn't look at other people's privacy like that. Seeing he understood the troublesome situation he went to his troublesome house to get some un-troublesome sleep before his troublesome mission the next troublesome day, even though walking home was troublesome.

Hinata, on the other hand, made sure both of them had their blankets wrapped tightly around them, and she moved her body closer to Naruto, face-to-face, and having her head spinning around mentally, she even got the bravery to approach him and carefully hug him good night.

She placed her top hand on Naruto's side, slowly so that she wouldn't wake him up. Like this she could experience it as if they were already a couple, and that made her drift so happily to the land of dreams...

Or maybe they could be called a couple already? No, it was still to early to conclude. Hinata stared at him, as drunk in love as ever... She fell happily asleep with him.


	8. Dawn of love

_Chapter 8 - Dawn of love_  
The next day, Hinata woke up, still in the exact same position. Naruto, the lazy little lad, was still sleeping. Hinata became shy again, and her blush made her mold Chakra without even thinking of it.

Somehow, the sunlight from the windows took away a lot of her bravery again...

Everything was easier when it was dark.

Why, she didn't know... She hid her tomato-colored face under the blanket.  
Realizing Naruto probably would remain asleep for awhile, she calmed down her drumming heart. But she didn't

really know what to do. Poor Hinata was in a situation of dreams, but was too shy to enjoy it right now... She didn't know how he would react once he woke up. What would happen? What, indeed?

Naruto turned over to lay on his back, with a light breathing. Hinata felt rested, and she couldn't sleep no more. She has slept closer than a inch away from Naruto the whole night, but now the shock crossed her mind. What if Naruto didn't want her to be there? If he preferred being alone when he woke up?

She didn't want him to get enough of her, she would want him to want her as much as possible... When he woke up, there was always this slight chance of it not going her way. That's why, before he woke up she wanted to do a little thing she has always wanted to do...

She looked at Naruto, he was still asleep. She looked sad, but she wasn't. Slowly, she moved her left hand over Naruto's face, and rubbed him real light on his chin to see if he would wake up, but he didn't... Next, with really slow movement, she placed her weight on her low arm, and gradually moved her weight and balance to equality over to her other arm.  
She concentrated!

Closing up to Naruto's face, her heartbeat changed to a really fast frequency. She felt her mad pulse pumping through her body, and she started to get nervous, but kept going on. She loved him deeply, and didn't want to give up. After all, Naruto has given her that belief.

Now her face was very few inches away from his face, maybe three inches... Now two and a half... Her heart beated

even faster, like a hammer! Her hands was shaking, every muscle in her body started to tremble, especially her arms, statically holding most of her body weight. And then, she got even closer...

She was half-way laying on top of Naruto, without touching him.

The longer she took to approach Naruto, the more nervous she got, leading to even stronger shaking in her muscles. That could result in Naruto waking up, she thought, making a very awkward situation she obviously did not want.

**Enough**!, she thought, and closed the distance even more.

She felt Naruto's heat from his face, and she had never seen her crush from such a close distance. She admired his face, she thought he was beautiful... Now there was only a waterthin distance between her and his mouth... Hinata closed her eyes and got even closer, even though her whole body was shaking. She blushed extremely hard. Close!

Ready to steal a kiss from him, their first kiss she wanted so badly!

Then she stopped. Being this close, she wanted to move to connect, but her body, and her shyness stopped her movement. She simply didn't have the guts to move on. She froze in her state!

She didn't want Naruto to wake up from this kiss, destroying the situation, even though on the other hand

she knew this situation would end, on one way or another...

"_What do I do? WHAT DO I DO?! HELP!"_

Then! All of a sudden, Naruto woke up and bent forward like he always did every morning, and panic struck her! She tried moving out of the way but he was fast! Too close!

Their cheeks connected – a hug!

A warm hug!

That was magic, too! Hinata thought real fast, and said the first thing to cover the weirdness of the situation that she could think of, and said:

Hinata: G-g-g-g-good m-morning N-Naruto-kuuuun!

She wrapped her arms in panic around his head and squeezed him real tight! This was also to hide her super-red face! So close, but she saved it! This wasn't weird or awkward, it was just cute. She was hyperventilating inside...

Naruto was as confused as he could be! He gently put his arm around her, and carefully stroked her on her back, feeling her warm hair.


	9. Intensified

_Chapter 9 - Intensified_

So much happened on one single night. It was like a dream, although still incomplete.

After that hug, they mostly acted like normal, as if the night before didn't happen. Truth be told, both of them was too shy to talk about it, or to progress it without the aid of the dark.

After they had their breakfast, Hinata went home to take a shower. After they parted ways, Naruto wanted to train more and ate seconds, then thirds just to gain as much energy as possible. Having his Chakra to the max, he ran outside. On his way past the mailbox, he found and opened a letter from Ikurata...

He became serious while reading... The letter contained information, "written by Ikurata", that informed Naruto about her sister Hinata thinking so much about him, that it seemed to drive her crazy at times, and that if he liked her too, then he really shouldn't hesitate...

Now, it felt like Naruto swallowed a huge rock. This was a surprise. He could have known a long time ago that Hinata liked him, but this was a nice confirmation. There was of course no doubt about it. He was glad, and this fuelled his energy! He took off!

While running, he started thinking about the night before, and his heart started pulsing. He experienced an almost nervous laugh while running, and he felt that the love and magic he got from Hinata gave him an incredible energy boost! He ran faster than he had ever went, took off like a rocket!

Once at his training spot, he found Sasuke and Sakura. They were also training. Sasuke was learning how to improve his Chakra accuracy by Sakura. "Morning, moron", he said. Sakura noticed Naruto was smiling and acting different, and she also noticed he was blushing slightly. She smiled at the thought.

Has Naruto finally found someone? Finally he would leave her alone? For one time's sake, Naruto held back his anger, responding in the exact same way to say "morning, idiot" with the same careless expression and attitude

like Sasuke.

Sasuke looked up at Naruto. He didn't really expect to hear that. And of course, Sakura got mad, and started to yell at Naruto, and prepared her right arm to punch Naruto, as usual. Naruto has gotten sick and tired of her beating him up every time he stood up to Sasuke, so he created a Rasengan with his left hand and held it extended in front of himself. Sakura stopped her swinging arm at the sight of the Rasengan.

She started thinking that Naruto was maybe able to fight back this time. She felt a slight fear inside herself, because in the shinobi way, she held tons of respect for Naruto's strength. He was one of the few she never wanted to fight because she feared the outcome... She knew she would lose!

Naruto spoke calmly to Sakura: "Didn't Sasuke also say something? Aren't you going to punch him too?"

Sakura, surprised, stared at Naruto as he stopped the Rasengan and walked on to the other side of the field without a

single additional word spoken. She froze and kept staring at thin air... She felt bad for the first time, finally realizing how much of a bitch she had been for such a long time...

(Sorry, I guess I just dislike Sakura... After all, she's giving Naruto beat all the time! I don't approve of that.)

Naruto got to his spot, and wanted to try out his Double Mass Shadow Replication Technique. He formed a seal on each hand, separated them, and went into a cool-looking low stance, inspired by Neji, and molded an extreme amount of Chakra, almost awakening the Demon Fox inside him in the process.

He created a storm with his Chakra, screaming loudly as he flexed powers, before finally executing the

technique, creating 34 thousand copies of himself at the huge grass field. Sasuke and

Sakura was pushed tens of meters away when the army of clones appeared. An army!

The ground was shaking, all the way to Konoha. The word "Troublesome..." was spoken somewhere in Konoha at that point. Enough of the show-off and bragging, Naruto practiced taijutsu for several hours with his clones, before collapsing of exhaustion.

Time passed, and Naruto went back home to relax as the evening once again started to approach. He had used quite a lot Chakra that day. He decided to celebrate his exploding progress in his training by treating himself to ramen at Ichiraku's. Once there, eating, he got commented by Ichiraku: "I see you found someone special, Naruto? Today it's my treat!"

Naruto: What?! How did you know, I mean, what do you know?!

Ichiraku: Not much, but I can see it in your face! The glow! I'm proud of you son!

Ichiraku smiled proudly as he served Naruto for free. Naruto didn't get much, but he got served for free, so he thanked for it and started munching away. As of why he gave him that treat, he started thinking about the Hinata-thing earlier.

He thought it over... Everything that happened the night before, and he felt a strong desire to see her again... He missed her... He ate slowly as he was thinking about her smile, and the hug he got when he woke up...

Hinata had finished her shower and dinner, and went out to train and think about the recent events, when she remembered she forgot about her note on Naruto's bed. And she thought, Naruto never really said he liked her back. She still haven't gotten that confirmation. What if she was no more than a friend to him? That Naruto had just been nice to her, not wanting to trash her feelings? Maybe he was in a difficult situation because of her being too intrusive, led by her feelings blindly? It would be bad if Naruto decided to end their friendship... It was all she had! It meant everything to her!

By sheer instinct, she started to run towards Naruto's house.

Naruto went back home after the meal, trying to stomach everything... He was happy, but a bit confused as well. After all, he didn't know where they stood. Where they friends, or where they in a relationship already? Or was it something else? He didn't know anything about love until very recently, and it led to his confusement...

He saw Shikamaru's forehead protector on the floor. Then he found the note on the bed. He picked up the note and went over to Shikamaru's place to give back the forehead protector. Naruto left the house and took a jog on his way.

About four minutes later Hinata approached Naruto's house, finding it empty. She looked carefully in the window with Buyakugan, but didn't see her note on the bed. He must've taken in with him, she thought. Did he like her or not? She felt like she would turn crazy if she didn't get a final answer to that question... So drunk of love one day, then this panic-mode the next day...

Hinata was like that: scared of failing, scared of everything. Maybe too kind for her own good... One part of her told her that everything was perfectly fine. And then there was this negative pessimistic part of her telling her that she had to find Naruto and talk to him as quickly as possible... If, and only IF their friendship was in dire jeopardy, she had no time to lose!

The risks, oh how she hated the risks...

She ran. She headed to Naruto's favorite training spot and looked for him there. Naruto used to be there all the time, that much Hinata knew about him... Poor Hinata... She was on her way... Running for her love... Naruto, where are you?

Naruto got to Shikamaru and handed over the forehead protector, and left again. This time heading home. While walking, he picked up the note Hinata left to read it again. He felt so weird when he looked at it...

The whole day, he had felt weird. He had been avoiding the thoughts on purpose, because it kind of scared him a little... It was new to him of course. Every time he thought about her, he felt so weird, so he pushed the thoughts away. But now, he couldn't. Not anymore, it was almost driving him insane...

All those emotions... For him to finally realize why Hinata always was acting so weird around him. All his pieces gathered together. Naruto walked slower, until he stopped. He looked at the letter again. Scanned it with his eyes. Analyzed every word carefully, then all over again. He looked at all of the drawings, all of the poems, comments, edits... It was all about him. He... Who wanted everyone to recognize his existence... And yet he didn't know there was one person that always looked at him with envy and admiration...

And to such an extent.

At the same time, Hinata approached Naruto's trainingspot. She walked slowly over the large wide open field of grass. The wind was cold. There was no Naruto to be seen... She used Buyakugan to confirm it. She wanted to cry in her desperation, but she couldn't. She didn't have time, this was important!

What love could do to a person, she thought... She ran to the top of a high stone hill, to the very edge of it. Once there, she molded Chakra and forced activation of an empowered Buyakugan with tears in her eyes, and she deep-scanned the whole Konoha village in search of Naruto!

Hinata: Naruto... Do you love me...?


	10. Fused to one

_Chapter 10 – Fused to one_

Then Naruto bursted into his typical self, smiling proudly as he stated: "Well, there's a reason for people to like me, after all I'm Uzumaki Naruto dattebayo!"

He said that with both hands resting behind his head. Proud like a king.

Then he became serious again... He had never looked at Hinata that way before. It felt so unusual. He walked towards Hinata's house. He picked up the note and read one sentence over again. It said "I love you, Naruto-

kun".

Naruto had been thinking about the hug they had by accident earlier... It was a bit strange that she hugged him that quickly. No way she could be that fast, then what was she doing, being so close to him when he was sleeping? Was she trying to kiss him or something?

Oooh the thought gave him goosebumps of joy. It felt incredible... But Naruto could also be a very shy person... And this situation was extraordinary... He was almost completely sure that he loved her back. She was so kind, so nice, so beautiful... How come he never noticed her until now? Was he blind?

He needed to see her. He didn't know what to say, or what to do, he just needed to see her... He stretched out his arm to knock on the Hyuuga door, and made two nervous knocks on it. Someone closed in to the door. It opened up. And Naruto was staring at Hinata's father.

He made a deep sigh. Naruto felt that sigh was unpleasant, like he knew about Naruto and didn't like what kind of person he was. Naruto suddenly felt like aborting the whole thing, but still he couldn't stop. It wasn't the father's business, he thought! It didn't concern him! He simply asked if Hinata was home, but got the negative response.

Naruto sighed as well, and turned around. He was about to leave, when Hinata's father grabbed his shoulder, asking what he wanted. Naruto said he had to talk to her. Hinata's father knew he didn't have anything to do with the situation that was going on, but still he asked what was going on...

Meanwhile, Hinata had locked Naruto in her Buyakugan at a far-away distance that normally was impossible even with the Buyakugan, and she ran through Konoha. Even though her breath was struggling, she kept on running. Caughing, not far from breathing blood, she still didn't stop.

Naruto on the other hand, was still talking with her father, and responded to him: "Well... What's going on, you ask...? Umm... The thing is, we... Hinata and I... We... We're good friends, and we... Uh...umm... I...

Naruto stopped... He couldn't complete the sentence. The man placed his hand before Naruto's mouth.

"Say no more... I can tell, the look in your eyes... It is the look of a man who is starting to understand his heart... I will leave you alone. I can feel she is closing in at this point.", he said, and closed the door without making any sound, with a true smile in his face.

It was a wise man. He probably knew the outcome.

Naruto left the entrance and went out on the road heading away from the house. Then Hinata arrived, completely out of breath...

She felt so weird, panicking of something so trivial. All this running and stress because she needed confirmation, as if it wasn't enough what she and Naruto had just done together the day before.

Feeling relieved upon seeing her favorite boy, she smiled very honestly... Naruto, however, didn't...

He felt his heart hammer even harder for each passing beat. Just by the mere sight for her! It's as if he had been given the biggest diamond, and that if he touched it wrong, it would shatter.

Carefully, he took a few steps towards her, asking...

Naruto: Hinata-chan... Are you okay...?

Hinata: _Chan... He added "chan" after my name... Just like he used to do with Sakura..._

The Hyuuga girl smiled, and her eyes became soggy. She was staring, having deep eye-contact with Naruto. It felt so intense looking at his eyes... The color, the blue eyes, they shone so strongly, it was almost penetrating...

At the same time, it felt so good just seeing him, especially in this magical kind of way they never had before...

They were always stuck at the friendly level, but now it was something else entirely...

She moved her eyes away from his. At the same time her focal point was lowered, she blinked, and a tear started racing down her cheek...

Meanwhile, Naruto searched his pocket, and handed Hinata the lovenote.

Naruto: Hinata-chan... I... I wanted to ask you...

Hinata's pulse dropped again. Her eyes again locked into his. So excited of what he was going to ask, she still held her breath...

Naruto: ... For... How long...? For how long have you... You know...

A tear fell from her other eye as well... She chuckled, in a sad and hard way...

Hinata: ... F-for... T-too long...

He noticed her tears and took another step closer. He carefully stroke her chin with his thumb to wipe away the wet path from her tears... She couldn't face him, the emotions were far too strong. Inside Naruto's mind it was utter chaos. He had pictures flashing by from all his path, from people hating him, people avoiding him, nice girls being completely out of reach for his heart...

And now...

His seemingly perfect match was so within reach. And she was so much more than he could ever wish for.

Slowly, oh so slowly, he extended both arms, wanting to hug her. She suddenly bursted into breathing again, and swung her arms around his neck almost throwing herself entirely at him. And she squeezed him so tightly. Her eyes forced shut, even more tears streaming, but these were made of joy and relief.

Her shy heart was somewhat locked away for just an instant, granting her enough time and courage to quickly tell him this one single thing that had been heavy on her heart for so many years...

"Naruto-kun... **I love you!** I always have!"

Immediately, almost instantly, he replied: "I love you too, Hinata-chan!"

Both embraced each other! Almost squeezing life itself out of each other in competition. Both were so happy and relieved. Hinata could not stop her tears from flowing, and even Naruto felt his own tears slowly crawl down his face.

His heart was beating so fast now, he could even feel it in his neck, this mad pulse. It was the same with Hinata. While hugging her, he felt intoxicated by her hair that touched his face. It felt warm and soft, and it had such a nice scent to it.

They hugged for a very long time.

Hinata was breathing a bit lighter, but still she felt almost exhausted. It was almost too much for her to handle. These crazy emotions almost killing her heart, but in such a good way. Still drunk on heavy feelings, she slightly loosened her grip on him, swapping to carefully stroking his back.

While stopping the hug, she didn't push him away either. Their faces were still hugging, but cheek to cheek... Slowly sliding their warm cheeks, they stopped when they, as close as ever, could look at each other in the eyes again. Hinata's left eyes looking at Naruto's left eye.

They faces were so close, eye-contact was blurry. Both were in a perfect position to kissing the other's cheek, but they still moved millimeters at a time, adjusting to kissing...

It felt easier for Hinata to what she wanted at such a close distance, maybe because her blood-red blushy face could not be seen at this close distance?

Still looking at each other, their lips came closer and closer, until both stopped a single inch away from their first kiss. They stared at each other's eyes for a moment.

Naruto carefully stroked the hair on the back of her head, so slowly as if he was taming a wild beast. He could not afford a failure, perhaps. The fear of failure... It struck them both.

Still breathing hard, which was true for both of them, they held back the hyperventilation. Inside her mind, Hinata was screaming high-pitch for minute-long durations, acting sheerly on instincts!

This was a dream, that finally became reality.

She could hug him for an eternity, as long as he was hugging her back. And now, would they finally kiss each other? Would her long-sought dream become true at last? Her heart felt like it was going to jump out, but this was not despair nor was it sadness.

Naruto couldn't brag about this; his heart had not made that hard impact for each beat never before. Finally, both of them closed their eyes, slowly to confirm the other did the same.

Synchronized, they were killing the last inch separating them. The feelings radiating throughout their bodies were strong enough to warp both time and space. They have long since surpassed the peak of nervousness. Hinata's wet eyes closed, Naruto's wet eyes closed, gently they tilted their heads a tiny bit to the side, adjusting for the contact...

Their lips...

Made...

... Contact!

So soft!

So incredibly soft, gently pushing their lips together they kissed. Her world was spinning, his mind erased all thoughts flashing. Completely without thought, they couldn't think. They just felt.

Mentally, Hinata made an inside-scream-sound of the long awaited moment. Their lips did not slide, they did not make out yet, they just pushed their mouths together, holding it, enjoying, savouring it... Re-arranging their arms to tightly hug while holding this melting kiss...

Having folded their arms tight around one another, they wouldn't ever let go... It pumped through their veins...

Even more tears of happiness streamed down Hinata's cheeks, touching Naruto's own cheek. It was incredible... How a simple kiss could be this complex, this overwhelming...

To call this heaven, was an understatement.

Both of them slowly grew from this kiss, finally they had the ultimate confirmation of where they had each other.

This was the beginning of a relationship of two perfectly fitting individuals, that would last through anything! It's as if they were constructed for each other.

... As the clouds peacefully drifted across the beautiful blue sunlit sky, a person nearby closed his curtains in the window, leaving him a proud smile, touched by happiness marking how deep a kind father he is, seeing his daughter this happy. He was proud, and he was crying, too!

_The end!_


End file.
